Bummer Dude!

Riding while worrying about your bike is just not fun. Any little noise, any strange vibration and your Spidey Sense goes on full alert and you become convinced that your bike is on the verge of self-destructing in the middle of nowhere. When riding on roads with the kind of variable surface that you get in Indonesia, it turns into a two wheeled remake of The Blair Witch Project. ”What was that?” ”Did you hear something?” ”It’s gone, but I’m sure I heard… There! Can you hear it now?”

But, despite all this, I still didn’t have a hard time enjoying myself. The Island hoping was fun and the people were still being great- even the cops got into the action when I was pulled over… Just so they could take some pics with me!

Then a passing meet with some other riders…

Sure, the bike was bugging me. Sure, whenever I went into the mountains the low clouds obscured all the views. Sure, Bali just felt like some year-round Spring Break party that had me grumbling about tourists again. Sure, and so what? I was riding through Indonesia and meeting all sorts of great people, eating fantastic food, and seeing things no beaching tourist ever does! It was about moments.

Being stopped by a bus load of school kids for a picture,

walking through a bad part of town where ever single person said said hi or waved while living in terrible conditions,

realizing I was just about to leave Bali without having taken one picture,

and having people at hotels so concerned about my bike that they insisted that I keep it in the lobby overnight.